The other day
while doing my usual 47-minute workout in the gym,
“Madonna Rewind” happened to be on VH1 on one of
the flat screen televisions hanging from the
ceiling.

I’m no fan of VH1 or Madonna. But on the screen
where I was watching ESPN Sports Center, a
commercial was running and my attention was
momentarily diverted to her new war video on the
adjacent monitor. She claims she delayed its
release because of the US’s involvement in Iraq.

I was curious to see what she had to say so I
pressed the “Up” button on the station selector. I
listened just long enough to hear her whine about
how ironic it was that we fought a war to bring
democracy to Iraq, yet there isn’t real democracy
here in America because show people are being
punished for their criticism of this country’s
involvement in the war.

I assume the show people to which she was referring
were the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Susan Sarandon
and Tim Robbins whose recent anti-Bush,
anti-America tirades had some very unpleasant
consequences.

Dixie Chicks band member Natalie Maines said at a
performance in London: “Just so you know, we're
ashamed the president of the United States is from
Texas.” Now the group is suffering from reduced
record sales and outraged deejays refusing to play
their music.

Similarly, when the Baseball Hall of Fame got wind
of Robbins' venomous anti-war rhetoric, they
cancelled his appearance at Cooperstown where he
was scheduled to appear with Sarandon for a 15-year
anniversary celebration of the movie Bull Durham.
Robbins complained of censorship, telling attendees
at
a National Press Club luncheon, “A chill wind is
blowing in this nation. Every day the airwaves are filled
with warnings, veiled and unveiled threats, spewed
invective and hatred directed at any voice of
dissent.”

Dale Petroskey, president of the Hall wrote, “We
believe your very public criticism of President
Bush at this important and sensitive time in our
nation's history helps undermine the U.S. position
which
ultimately could put our troops in even more
danger.”

Time for a history lesson folks.

The First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,
or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Last time I checked, there weren’t any new laws
passed by Congress limiting anyone’s free
speech. There were no knocks at Tim Robbins’s or
Madonna’s door in the middle of the night to take
them
away for speaking out against the government.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the real world,
where not everyone agrees with your point of
view, especially when you choose to disparage the
land that has afforded you the opportunities for
which
gratitude not vilification should be on your
tongue.

It must be tough for these outspoken liberals in
show biz. To date, their biggest angst has been a
critic’s pan or a sleight from the Academy Awards.
But these slaps in the face are all aimed at the
performer, not the person. It’s different when you
drop the mask and bare your soul only to have your
words rammed back down your throat by a public that
has finally grown sick of listening to you.

There’s been no “chill wind” of censorship. To
listen to Robbins’s diatribe, you’d think we were
in
Nazi Germany c.1938 or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or
Cuba where Fidel Castro has recently jailed dozens
of
journalists.

The way it works in the good old, democratic,
capitalistic United States of America is like this:
People have a right to speak and other people have
a right to listen—or to not listen. Sometimes they
hear
something so outrageous, that if it is in their
power to prevent others from having to listen, they
take those
matters into their own hands.

And sometimes, if they really get mad, they vote
with their pocketbooks and wallets. The Dixie
Chicks know this feeling all too well right now.

That’s not a “chill wind.” It’s called the free
market.

Jesus said, “By your words you will be justified,
and by your words you will be condemned.”

Or, in other words, when big shot performers think
their fame automatically gives them a stage on
which to speak their minds on any topic, they need
to be reminded that words—real words, not like the
ones they read from a Hollywood script—have real
consequences.